1. Technical Field
The present application relates to a beverage bottling plant for filling containers, such as bottles and cans, with a liquid beverage, a filling machine for filling containers with a liquid, and a method for filling containers with the filling machine.
2. Background Information
A beverage bottling plant for filling bottles with a liquid beverage filling material can possibly comprise a beverage filling machine with a plurality of beverage filling positions, each beverage filling position having a beverage filling device for filling bottles with liquid beverage filling material. The filling devices may have an apparatus being configured to introduce a predetermined volume of liquid beverage filling material into the interior of bottles to a substantially predetermined level of liquid beverage filling material, and the apparatus configured to introduce a predetermined flow of liquid beverage filling material comprising apparatus being configured to terminate the filling of beverage bottles upon liquid beverage filling material reaching said substantially predetermined level in bottles. There may also be provided a conveyer arrangement being configured and disposed to move bottles, for example, from an inspecting machine to the filling machine. Upon filling, a closing station closes filled bottles. There may further be provided a conveyer arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the filling machine to the closing station; as well as a loading station that is configured to load filled bottles into containers, for example, in a six-pack arrangement. There may also be provided a conveyor arrangement configured to transfer filled bottles from the closing station to the loading station.
The hot bottling of a liquid substance, i.e. the dispensing of the liquid at high temperatures, e.g. in the range between 75° C. to approximately 100° C., into bottles or similar containers is described in the prior art.
In particular, the prior art describes the hot bottling of beverages, e.g. fruit juices, to produce a sterile bottled product that is of high quality and has a sufficiently long shelf life. The hot liquid being bottled is thereby fed into the individual containers via the filling elements.
As a result of the high temperature of the liquid to be bottled and the high temperature of the filling elements caused by the liquid in the normal course of the filling process, not only are any harmful germs that may be present in the containers killed, but germs or the formation of germs in the liquid being bottled and in the filling elements are also prevented.
During hot bottling, however, it is impossible to prevent interruptions of the filling process, for example as a result of disruptions in the feed of the empty containers and/or during the removal of the filled containers. During such interruptions, there is a risk of cooling of the liquid that is then held back in the closed filling elements or is just approaching the closed filling elements, as well as a cooling of the filling elements themselves, so that the germs in the liquid and in the filling elements that can contaminate the liquid being bottled can no longer be reliably killed and/or prevented.